Dean Anthony draws inspiration and expertise from a comprehensive career spanning over 35 years and innumerable turns as performer, director, educator, producer and administrator. Most recently, Mr. Anthony was named as Producing Director of Knoxville Opera along with his position as Director of Opera, at the Janiec Opera Company of the Brevard Music Center, producing over 40 productions.
Frequently engaged as a stage director, Mr. Anthony’s artistic process is hallmarked by an energetic, gritty, and physical style. His portfolio stretches across the repertoire from Le nozze di Figaro to Dead Man Walking and includes regular engagements at regional houses across the United States. In 2020, he received the Charles Nelson Reilly American Prize Stage Director Award for his work on Tom Cipullo’s world premiere opera, Mayo.
A major producer and promoter of new opera works, Mr. Anthony has helped facilitate, create and develop numerous projects including Glory Denied, Mayo, Fleecing the Flock, Supper’s Ready, Falling Angel, Sister Carrie, and Change the World, It Needs It! a new cabaret with the Kurt Weill Foundation. In collaboration with composer Michael Ching, Mr. Anthony conceived and created the opera Speed Dating Tonight!, which garnered nationwide attention and has been booked for over 100 different productions to date.
As a character tenor, Mr. Anthony performed over 100 roles on the operatic stage and garnered acclaim for his keen vocal, dramatic, physical, and acrobatic abilities, earning him the nickname “The Tumbling Tenor.”